Help! TV advice needed! (1 Viewer)

[John*St]

Greetings everyone,

My wife and I (yes you read it right...she's just as excited about a new tv as I am!!!) are currently trying to choose a television for our new home, and we are having a ton of problems deciding. Here are some of the factors that we are taking into consideration:

Budget @$3000
Viewing Distance: ~8ft
Viewing habits: 35%/65% DVD/regular programming
little to no gaming
We also have DirecTV.

FYI: Down here in good ole Memphis we pretty much have Best Buy, Sears, Circuit City, and smaller local stores. The closest Hifi Buys is in Nashville 3hrs away. I only mention this because I prefer to finance while having a solid return policy.

Thanks for your help, and if I have forgotten anything please let me know.

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

Anything in the 50 to 57" range will do. Spending more does not guarantee a better TV.

Panasonics, Hitachi's, Mits, Sony's ... all have quality product in the price range and often much less than your ceiling.

Also consider factoring in the cost for a professional calibration into the budget and the extended warranty.

Regards

 

[Jan Strnad]

Check out Toshiba, too. At 8' I'd consider anything from 40-50 or so inches, but I'm a fan of smaller RPTVs (I have a 42" Tosh). I think that a real immersive movie experience only comes when you get into the 100" front projection arena, so I go against the general feeling on this board that bigger is necessarily better.

I wouldn't think so much about the percentages, though, as about what you care about most. If your prime, most critical viewing is movies on DVD, buy a TV for that and make the inevitable trade-offs on the broadcast end. Consider what you care about most, not what you watch the most, when choosing a set.

Jan

 

[Ted Ross]

Pioneer!

 

[Andy_Bales]

Don't go with a 65, that is way to close. we got one and 11 ft is just pushing it. I exercise at 8ft and it can give you a headache on the noisy cable channels. DVDs and satelite would be fine tho.

 

[John*St]

Thank you all so far for your support and advice. I really appreciate it.

Jan-Speaking of Toshiba my father in law has a 50 inch 4:3 aspect ratio TV and I must say it looked great when I was home for thanksgiving! He was telling me that his Tosh was the first TV he saw that had the color he wanted (and he's pretty picky about such things as he is a graphic artist!)I'll look into it.

Any opinions on these sets from anyone? They are some of the first that come to mind (there are tons I know!).


Mitsubishi WS-48311
Sony KP-51WS500
Sony KP-46WT500

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

As Michael TLV pointed out, it's not necessary to hit your ceiling (or even come close to it) for a TV that's ideal for 8ft viewing distance. All the TVs you're likely to consider have their fans. Since your $ ceiling is pretty high (for this range of TVs), you really should consider getting ISF calibration and build it into the cost.

FWIW, I chose a Panny 53" very recently because I decided it's just not worth it to spend much more on other brands--it can be had for $1600-1700 at Best Buy (or less if you haggle). They're all pretty comparable in picture quality after some tweaking. For the most part, you're paying for feature set, construction/build quality, and other similar things, not necessarily picture quality unless you don't plan to do any tweaking or get ISF calibration.

If you plan to watch 4x3 content stretched to fill the screen, that's one thing you should compare to see which one looks best (or good enough) to you. Also, if the new TV must be as future-proof as possible, then go w/ one that has DVI input. This is one thing the Panny's do not have, but it didn't stop me since most TVs will still require an upgrade to DVI/HDCP (ie. more $$$) while already costing substantially more. If you didn't know, it looks like DVI/HDCP will be the likely future for premium HD content on cable/sat and probably HD-DVD, whenever that's gonna happen--my guess is at least 5+ years.

_Man_

 

[John*St]

Thanks again everyone. Just wanted to say that we went with a 50" Toshiba TheaterWide HD. Of course (based on the above advice) we got the four year warranty AND maintenance for $299 from best buy. The plan looked good to me. Can't wait for the TV to arrive on Saturday!

 

[David R Nguyen]

You're in almost the same boat I am! In fact, I just put in my order for my new TV earlier this afternoon. I was pretty much sold on a Toshiba 42HDX82 (about $1899 retail). But when I saw the picture on the 40" Sony Vega XBR KV-40XBR800 TV, I forgot about the Toshiba. Rear projection TVs are the best value for your money, in terms of shear size, but for quality of picture, and that $3000 budget, you would do your self a service by checking out the Sony. Also, Sony's giving away the stand with it, and practically free shipping too ($.01)!

Anyways, that's my 2 cents. Good luck with it.

Dave

 

[John*St]

David,

NO doubt that the KV40XBR800 is a killer television. In fact that was my first choice for a long time, but when it came down to it I wanted the best value for my money (I could see getting it , but we just couldn't see paying 2,999 for 40 inches). Best of luck with your new WEGA KV40XBR800, and if you like that be sure to check out the grand WEGA 50 inch and 60 inch at a circuit city near you. They are the only ones here around Memphis that sell them. I for one stopped in my tracks and gawked for about 30 minutes at the picture of the GW II's.

All the best!

John